Bob Avellini, who quarterbacked the Chicago Bears during some of Walter Payton’s best seasons and helped the team reach the playoffs in 1977, has died. He was seventy.
On Saturday night, a team official confirmed Avellini’s death, saying he had been battling cancer.
“Bob was one of a kind, a fierce and tough competitor,” the team wrote in a statement Sunday. “He’s perhaps best remembered… The Bears selected Avellini, a native of Queens in New York City, in the sixth round of the 1975 NFL draft from Maryland, the same class that produced Payton. Avellini started the last four games of his rookie season, passing for 268 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-17 victory against the New Orleans Saints.
CHICAGO — Bob Avellini, a former Chicago quarterback who led the Bears to the playoffs in 1977 alongside Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, died on Saturday. He was seventy.
According to the Bears, Avellini died following a fight with cancer.
Avellini and Payton enjoyed their best seasons in 1977, when Chicago and the Minnesota Vikings both finished 9-5 in the NFC North. Minnesota won the division, and Chicago received a wild-card playoff berth. Dallas defeated the Bears 37-7 in the playoffs that season. Avellini threw 11 touchdown passes for a career-high 2,004 yards and 18 interceptions. Payton, meanwhile, carried for almost 1,800 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Avellini passed for 7,111 yards, 33 touchdowns, and 69 interceptions in
73 games were played over nine seasons, from 1975 to 1984.
Avellini, from New York, was in the same draft class as Payton, being taken by Chicago in the sixth round out of Maryland in 1975. Payton was the fourth-overall pick.
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